A disconnect switch, designed as a single-pole rectiliniar disconnect switch with hollow shielding bodies around each end of the two conductors, is known and described on page 701 of the Brown Boveri-Mitteilungen, 1979. In this known unit, a first hollow shielding body includes a movable contact contacting the end of a first conductor and being operable by means of a rotating insulator element. This rotating insulator element is inserted into the first shielding body and causes the opening and closing of the disconnect switch. The first shielding body also contains means for transforming the rotary motion of the rotating insulator element into the sliding opening and closing motions of the movable contact. When the disconnect switch is open, the isolation gap is defined by the boundaries of the two rounded shielding bodies. This known disconnect switch is an in-line disconnect switch; that is, the movable contact and the ends of the conductors that can be bridged by the movable contact all lie along a common axis. The enclosed housing is accordingly made in an approximately cylindrical shape and its end faces are closed by feedthrough insulators for the ends of the conductors.
In the sections of metal-clad, gas-insulated high-voltage switchgears, however, disconnect switches must be provided not only for in-line connected conductors, but must also be provided for right-angle or oblique-angle connected conductors, such as occur particularly at the connection between a terminal of a circuit breaker and bus bars. In-line and angular disconnect switches, as required, are used for these connections in conjunction with additional components such as straight or angular conduits, etc. of various designs.